IntelliGantt turns Project Management in to Managable Projects. From the keyboard of a MOSS MVP, through the pipes of the internet and direct to your browser I love putting data on the move. And, as it turns out, writing about it.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

IntelliGantt FAQ

Thanks for the reception!

"Desktop only" MS Project implementations are much more common than most people think and I can definitely see how this could help many organizations use those licenses more effectively.

In that vein, I'd like to run through a list of frequently asked questions regarding our IntelliGantt Add In for MS Project.

1) Does everybody need MS Project?

No, only the project manager who needs MS Project's robust scheduling, advanced costing and more complex features. Everyone else could use a simple browser to update their SharePoint tasks, or a rich, secure Groove workspace-- but IntelliGantt works with both SharePoint and Groove out of the box with no additional installs. If some people prefer a rich, interactive Gantt chart with cool features like Multi-Project view and Instant Messaging, then I can recommend our standard application for $199.

2) What a second, you mean I don't need to install anything on a server, or update my SharePoint configuration? Not even an ActiveX program?

Correct. IntelliGantt works with the standard, shipping task list for SharePoint 2003 and 2007. Groove 2007 doesn't actually ship with a Task List, so we created a simple Groove Form Task List and give it out for free. And no, there's no ActiveX involved.

3) What versions of MS Project does IntelliGantt work with?

MS Project 2003 and 2007 Standard and Professional.

4) How do my SharePoint users become resources in MS Project?

There are two options. Option one happens during the initial publish, or sharing, of a project. When you publish your project to a SharePoint or Groove workspace, IntelliGantt retrieves the members and inserts them as resources within your project. IntelliGantt then keeps track of the resource/member relationship so you can make changes to names, costing and other fields, but still have the proper connection.

OR, you may want to work from a project template, which may contain resources like 'Developer 1' or 'Engineer 2'. If you give these MS Project resources email address, then when a project is shared or updated, IntelliGantt will see if a member with the same email address is a member in the SharePoint or Groove workspace. If so, a link is created.

In both cases, if you assign an hourly cost to your MS Project resources, and your members update their percent complete, the project manager can see cost information updated as the project executes.

5) I see on your site you also support MindManager. Is there a MindManager Add In?

An Add In for MindManager is coming soon! But we do have MindManager integration available today with our Plus product. This lets you synchronize Topics and SubTopics with your SharePoint and Groove users as well. You can even try it today.

6) What external SharePoint host providers do you work with? Can you recommend one?

We will work with any Windows SharePoint Services V2 or V3 provider. Our goal is to work with as many as possible, and partner with the ones that make sense.

7) In addition to SharePoint and Groove, the demo also showed 'Internet Workgroup'. What is an Internet Workgroup?

You will have to wait a week or so before I can answer that one. But I can promise you it'll be worth the suspense!

8) OK, how much?

$299 for a single license. This is an insanely great deal in that one license lets a project manager interactively share tasks with all the members of a team, lets a team use a simple browser to report progress and raise issues and gives a window to management what's going on.

I'll be able to provide more information as we get closer to release, which is getting closer by the day.

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I create tools for SharePoint, Basecamp, Google+ and Facebook for my own products and for contracts. I've focused on SharePoint Project Management solutions for the last 7 years with worldwide deployments and specific contract solutions for multi-million dollar products and initiatives. I'm here to help with what the industry needs today and tomorrow. Contact me if you have a product you'd like to integrate with web-based platforms.